[author: Carlos Juarez]

On April 13, 2017, the NYSE issued a proposed rule change that would amend Sections 204.12, 204.21, and 202.06(B) of its NYSE Listed Company Manual to require listed companies to provide notice to the NYSE at least ten minutes before making any public announcement about a dividend or stock distribution, including outside of the hours during which the NYSE’s immediate release policy is in operation.  The principal effect of the change would be to require listed companies to provide ten minutes advance notice to the NYSE with respect to a dividend announcement made at any time, rather than just during the hours of operation of the immediate release policy as is currently the case.  The NYSE noted that the proposed rule change will help avoid confusion in the marketplace if there is contradictory information available from multiple sources or uncertainty as to whether news reports of dividends are accurate and also enable NYSE staff to answer questions from market participants about corporate actions.

A copy of the proposed rule change is available at: https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/nyse/rule-filings/filings/2017/NYSE-2017-17.pdf.

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